Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 192

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists? (Christopher Klein, History.com): “Within a few decades of his lifetime, Jesus was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians in passages that corroborate portions of the New Testament that describe the life and death of Jesus.”

Jesus, Mary, and Joe Jonas (Jonathan Parks-Ramage, Medium): “How, in famously liberal Hollywood and among statistically progressive millennials, had good old-fashioned evangelism [sic] gained popularity? In this context, a church like Reality L.A. seemed like something that could never work. But that evening, as I reflected on the troubled actress and the psychic brutalities inflicted by the entertainment industry, it occurred to me that I had underestimated Hollywood’s biggest product: lost souls.”

Highly recommended. Stories like this are catnip for me. The author is gay, a fact which weighs heavily in his reporting. A friend passed this my way, and I remind you that I always welcome such suggestions.

Conservative Christians Just Retook the United Methodist Church (Emma Green, The Atlantic): “In the final hours of the conference on Tuesday, the debate turned acrimonious: One delegate alleged, without clear evidence, that people at the conference were bribing others for votes. Another speaker’s mic was silenced when he threatened to filibuster any vote before the end of the day. And the debate came to an abrupt halt: Delegates had to clear out of the conference hall so that it could be turned over for a monster-truck rally.”

That final sentence, while factual, feels like a metaphor for something.

I predict the victorious traditionalists in the UMC will be far more magnanimous toward churches that wish to leave than the revisionists in other denominations have been to their vanquished (I’m looking at you, Episcopal Church).

The Trauma Floor (Casey Newton, The Verge): “One [Facebook content moderator] walks the floor promoting the idea that the Earth is flat. A former employee told me he has begun to question certain aspects of the Holocaust. Another former employee, who told me he has mapped every escape route out of his house and sleeps with a gun at his side, said: ‘I no longer believe 9/11 was a terrorist attack.’”

I doubt many antireligious people think of themselves as racist, so they should realize that their attempts to erase religion from the public square disproportionately harm black people.

‘Every day was about survival’ : Inside the graduate student affordability crisis (Charlie Curnin, Stanford Daily): “…when Shalev Marom wakes up with only $18 in her bank account, she finds it hard to be excited about her financial situation. Shalev Marom, who relies on picking produce from campus trees to sustain herself, eats just one full meal a day…. At Stanford, Shalev Marom lives in the cheapest housing option open to her — and as an international student on a J‑1 visa, she is subject to strict federal laws that regulate any additional income she could receive from further employment. In each pay period — roughly two-weeks long — she says she currently receives around $200 to $300 from her research assistantship, after the deduction of housing costs and University fees.”

This is heartbreaking. If you know a Stanford student who can’t afford to eat, let me know. We can help.

Mainstream Media Blacks Out The Democrats’ Infanticide Vote (David Harsyani, The Federalist): “So I was going to have a little fun at the expense of CNN this morning, contrasting the news site’s headline for the Democrats’ gun restriction bill—’House to vote on guns background check bill with bipartisan support’—which has garnered exactly four Republican co-sponsors, with its headline for the Sen. Ben Sasse’s anti-infanticide bill, which I was certain would be solely about the “GOP” despite having four Democrat senators voting to move the bill forward. Turns out, it was even better. There was nothing to contrast because, as far as I can tell, CNN doesn’t feature a single story on their website regarding the Democratic Party blocking of Sasse’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would have saved newborn babies who survive abortion attempts from negligent homicide.”

A survey of the results of a Google News search confirms that this bill received almost no reporting coverage — almost all of the hits are opinion pieces.

Related: Ben Sasse Heightens the Contradictions (Jake Meador, Mere Orthodoxy): “The days in which “safe, legal, and rare,” could appeal to a wide swathe of Americans are over. For pro-lifers, abortion is the taking of innocent life, a thing which simply should not be legal or should only be legal in the most extreme cases. For ‘reproductive justice’ advocates, the right to legal abortion is about protecting the autonomy of human persons, of preserving the unencumbered choice of women whose choice would otherwise be naturally encumbered in ways that a man’s is not simply because of their ability to bear children.”

Related: The Abortion Debate Needs Moral Lament (Michael Wear, The Atlantic): “After decades of earnest attempts to find some common ground on this most tender and personal issue—think of Senators Ted Kennedy and Sam Brownback’s work on a Down Syndrome registry, bipartisan support for the Hyde Amendment, and President Obama’s first-term appeal for efforts to reduce the number of women seeking abortions—that impulse has been virtually eradicated among elected officials.”

Things Glen Found Interesting A While Ago

Every week I’ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have How Can I Learn To Receive – And Give – Criticism In Light Of The Cross? (Justin Taylor, Gospel Coalition): “A believer is one who identifies with all that God affirms and condemns in Christ’s crucifixion. In other words, in Christ’s cross I agree with God’s judgment of me; and in Christ’s cross I agree with God’s justification of me. Both have a radical impact on how we take and give criticism.” This is based on a longer article (4 page PDF). (first shared in volume 63)

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent.

Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it.

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